AQUACULTURE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

ABOUT THE AQUACULTURE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

Founded in 2010 by WWF and IDH (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative) the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent not for profit organisation with global influence.

ASC aims to be the world's leading certification and labeling programme for responsibly farmed fish and seafood. With its partners, the ASC runs an ambitious programme to transform the world's fish and seafood markets and promote industry best practice to minimise the environmental and social footprint of commercial aquaculture. 

The ASC's primary role is to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture, which were developed by the WWF Aquaculture Dialogues. And, as a member of the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) organisation, ASC's operations meet the requirements for credible standard setting.

ASC provides real value to aquaculture producers, seafood processors, retail and foodservice companies, scientists, conservation groups and consumers by:

• Recognising and rewarding responsible aquaculture through the ASC aquaculture certification programme and seafood label.
• Promoting best environmental and social choice when buying fish and seafood.
• Contributing to the transformation of fish and seafood markets towards sustainability.

ASC standards are developed and implemented according to ISEAL guidelines - multi-stakeholder, transparent, incorporating science-based performance metrics. The requirements in the standards are realistic, measurable and auditable.

Through its consumer label the ASC promotes certified responsibly farmed products in the marketplace. The logo sends a strong message to consumers about the environmental and social integrity of the product they are purchasing.

THE ASC CERTIFICATION PROCESS

The ASC certification process reflects the organisation's values of openness, inclusiveness and transparency.

Here's how the certification process work:

• The farm agrees a contract with an independent certifier.
• The certifier works with the farm to prepare for the audit.
• The audit is publicly announced on the ASC website at least 30 days in advance to allow stakeholders to provide relevant input.
• The audit will assess both technical and social compliance, which require different skill sets. The audit team typically uses two auditors to meet the skill requirements.
• The audit assesses the farm's administration (logbooks, invoices, delivery receipts, etc.).
• The auditor verifies the operation is well run in practice through visual assessments and interviews with management and staff.

The audit team will prepare a draft report, which may raise any major or minor non-conformities that the farm needs to improve upon. Both parties then agree on a time-bound improvement plan for each issue.

When all major non-conformities have been addressed and improvement plans for any minor issues have been agreed upon, the certifier will decide if the farm complies with the ASC Standard. The draft report will be available for public consultation on the ASC website for a minimum of 10 days, allowing stakeholders to give their feedback.

The certifier will process all findings from the audit and responses from the consultation into a final audit report. This report will state whether the farm is certified or not (yet) certified.

The ASC farm certificate is issued by the certifier and valid for three years. Farms are subject to an annual 'surveillance audit' featuring a risk analysis, focusing on the farm's improvement plans and on a sample of the standard's requirements.

The ASC's social requirements include interviews with farm staff, neighbours and other relevant stakeholders to assess compliance.

BRAKES INTRODUCES ASC CERTIFIED PRODUCTS

We are proud of our sustainable heritage and remain committed to leading the industry in the sourcing of ethical and sustainable fish and seafood. Given our existing and ongoing commitments and credentials  with sustainable wild caught products the next logical step in our sustainability journey was to focus on farmed fish and seafood (aquaculture). We are delighted to announce that we will be launching an ASC-certified warm water prawn in March 2016 (F114100 M&J Seafood ASC King Prawns, 1kg nett (31-40/lb). In doing so we will become the first foodservice supplier to introduce ASC-certified prawns in the UK. We will be actively looking to build upon this first ASC-certified product launch and anticipate introducing ASC-certified pangasius into our range later in 2016.

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